


This Is Not That World

by Lumelle



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe, Fix-It of Sorts, Fíli Feels, Happy Ending, M/M, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 15:58:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5462489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumelle/pseuds/Lumelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are many worlds where they are separated by love or loyalty or law, or perhaps a giant fire-breathing dragon. This is not that world.</p><p>Perhaps this time, he can have his love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Is Not That World

**Author's Note:**

> **Please note** that while this story ends happily, the world references canonical deaths, as well as possible alternate universes with sad endings. Please read accordingly.

There is a world where he loves his brother, but his brother loves another. In that world he dies telling his brother to run, hoping that at least he would be happy. He doesn't know his brother will be dead before sunset, anyway, because love is not actually a shield.

This is not that world.

There is a world where he loves his brother, and his brother loves him back. They do not listen to those who would give them grief, they are each other's first friend and last love, and he has sworn to protect his brother from the moment he was old enough to look over the side of his crib. In that world they die on the battlefield together, protecting their uncle and his kingdom and his dream, and none can separate them, not even in death.

This is not that world.

There are a hundred other worlds where they never meet and wander their lives looking for the answer to a question they haven't asked yet, and a handful where they pass each other by and never know any better. There are others where they meet but are kept apart by some previous circumstance, by other loves or loyalties or the scorn of society. There is a world where he marries a woman and lies to her every day of his life while dreaming of another every night, and a world where he only ever sees his love in a brief glimpse across the battlefield, and so, so many worlds where one of them dies before they can ever realize their love.

This is none of those worlds.

This is not a world where they are separated by chance or circumstance, not one where love goes unanswered or never meets its counterpart. This is a world where they meet quite by chance, students to the same violin teacher at the music institute, and when he first sees his love his heart feels more whole than it ever has done before.

They're supposed to play a piece together, and though it's their first time they each play better than they ever have with someone else, and it's easy, as though they've played together a thousand times before. They go to have coffee after, and though they are still young he knows he won't ever have to search again.

There is more coffee, and movies, and dinners, and when they play violin together they light the world on fire and when they are quiet together it is his skin that burns. Some will still sneer because someone always will, but their families are happy and their friends are supportive and they can walk down the street holding hands without fear. In this world their first kiss is sweet and innocent instead of guilty or desperate, and when he first whispers "I love you" he knows he has said it a thousand times before.

In this world there is no quest, no lost kingdom to reclaim or family honor to defend, and the only uncle he has gets a little tipsy at the wedding reception and tells a story about the time he got his head stuck in the side of the staircase and then weeps about how much he has grown. His love has an uncle too, a short thing with curly hair and a sharp tongue who huffs and puffs about overly sentimental people, but before the night is over the two are deep in conversation, and perhaps they are not the only ones to get another chance now that there is no dragon in the way.

In this world, the only dragon they ever fight is the one hiding under their daughter's bed when she is five and they are her brightest knights. This dragon is easily vanquished, all it takes are hugs and hot chocolate and the same fierce love that led them across the world not once but twice. There is no dragonfire, no bitter tears and clutching hands, and when she grows older and has her own battles to fight they will be there to stand by her side.

In this world it's their daughter who goes to war, because the world can only be so different, but she comes back again because this is the world where his heart doesn't get broken. She might have changed but she's still their little girl, even if she is now her own knight, even if she goes on to find someone who deserves her heart and has her own princess to protect and her own dragons to battle under the bed. He is proud, he is so very proud, and when his little granddaughter crawls into his lap and asks for a story he tells her about a distant land with dragons and mighty kings and dashing princes, and his love smiles at him and is alive and is alive and is alive.

In this world they grow old together, he gets to see the silver in dark hair and the laughter lines around the twinkling eyes, and every day he knows he will never see anything more beautiful and will never love another more. Every time he says this he gets laughed at and called a sap, but he always gets a kiss right after, so he never stops saying it. They still play together, from time to time, and though his hands are not as nimble as they once were he remembers every song, hears them echo from his heart to the other as they play music reflected through all the worlds and all the time.

In this world, and every other world before and since, he loves and loves and loves with all the heart he has, and really, it's only fair that for once, he loves happily ever after.


End file.
